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They probably turned it off for privacy. If you found an old Google profile URL, then you also knew the email address at Gmail, which would render Gmail useless for people who value their privacy.

Ideally, they need to offer the option to have a URL that is different from the Gmail address.

If you look to Europe, we have a sales tax in every country and yet Amazon manages to operate an affiliate service without problem.

If every state harmonised to a similar sales tax range and contributed a certain percentage of the earnings to a central pot (which is shared), then you wouldn't suffer from these problems. I know this is unpopular because people in the US tend to be strongly against tax, but it's a solution.

It's worth highlighting that although broadband over-the-phone is competitive in the UK, the cable internet service (which was built with US money) is a virtual monopoly and there's no sign of its network being unbundled.

At the very least, the BBC has avoided the BitCoin hype.

Lots of other websites mention it every other day, yet this crash was probably the first major event for the technology.

I would like to see some sort of mesh network which is built into firmware like Tomato, with options to opt in of course.

The story is a bit too self-involved, there's no need to write about it. They should sort these issues in the background and maintain a professional image.

Most developers I know - in real life - don't program in their spare time, never mind going to conferences or evening meet ups. If you work as a developer and your hobby is developing then there's a good chance that you'll burn out.

That's not to say that it is bad for people who do it, just try to expand your hobbies to something outside of technology.

Make sure that the name of the employer is a required field. There's so many job websites these days which are dominated by agency ads.

The original article on Hacker News - from The Register - was a bit sensational, that's just their style, a tech tabloid.

To be honest, I don't think sun spots were exclusively to blame for Dickens era of cold weather in Europe. Wasn't there some talk about the Atlantic belt faltering as well? Perhaps the jet stream moved too.

It does remind of a discussion forum, and one of the problems with forums is display advertisers don't like paying to be on them. Perhaps it is high profile enough to escape this stigma? Such as attracting sponsorship deals for different categories.

I have logged in several times in the past year, posted comments, read posts. It is a focused community website with a bit of exclusivity due to invites.

The hype confuses me. I have asked other developers and they think the same... it's too basic at the moment. It's one of those websites that has potential, but we are still waiting for it to deliver.

London's the heart of the UK's economy. That's why businesses put their sales offices in London, while the real work is done cheaply elsewhere in the country.

It would be interesting to see what were the most common vehicles to be involved in crashes with these 'dangerous' cars.

I like Apple's hardware, but they seem to be useless at power cables and batteries for their laptops. What makes matters worse is the replacement parts are so expensive. I ended up removing the battery permanently because it grew too big for the compartment. I also cut open the power cable so that the wires could be rejoined and taped again. I never had these problems with ThinkPads... sigh.

That's what I don't like about modern computing, there's too many layers of middleware. With web browsers you lose the link between the software and hardware, it's too abstract and theoretical.

That spark of interest comes from seeing something real (which is physical and easy to understand), and being able to control it by using code. Think arduino, not emulation.

All that said, I am a web developer, the main reason I got into it was the simplicity of technologies like HTML, PHP etc. Whereas nowadays, even web development is dominated by abstract ideas like OOP, APIs and frameworks, so it's becoming less interesting in that respect.

This is the first time that I have looked at any of these 'Sony' hacks. I had a quick look at their website, and the credits at the bottom clearly say that it was designed, developed and run by two third parties - yet they aren't mentioned in the headline.

Even on Windows it's a nuisance. Flash adverts are often so poorly implemented that merely visiting a website will push a laptop's fan to full power.

I am not against Flash though, I just wish they would put more effort into making it efficient and reliable on all platforms.

It has a short term feel to me, not a bubble, more like a craze that needs to settle before we find its true value.

It sounds like an ad agency, but perhaps better suited to surviving through recessions.

The important aspect – that needs to be determined – is whether existing clients are happy, and therefore returning for more business.

The last mile problem is presumably exasperated by P2P users being mostly consumers, rather than businesses, and therefore paying next to nothing for the connections.

Those are all valid points, but the thing that's always bothered me about Hacker News is the cult-like feel that comments exude. I would suggest that by hiding the scores, the website disguises the level of futility of voting against this collective mindset, and thereby encourages diversity of opinions.

It is good that power is being transferred away from a small number of publishers, but that power is being transferred to an even smaller number of platform owners like: Amazon, Google, Sony, Apple etc. To me, it just seems like a shift in power from old media entities to new media entities.